WORLD CHANGING: R.E.A.C.H. BOARD VOTES UNANIMOUSLY TO PURUSE PETITION TO STOP CARRIER CALL/TEXT BLOCKING AND MISLABELING

The political process may not work the way it was supposed to in this country but, for now at least, we still have the freedom of speech.

One of the key components of First Amendment protection is that prior restraints on speech are illegal except under very limited circumstances. And government officials cannot just delegate authority to regulate speech to private actors without very clear guidance in terms of what speech can, and cannot, be prevented.

But under the current FCC call/text blocking regimes the nation’s wireless carriers–and their cronies at the aggregators– have taken to blocking all manner of legal, consented and constitutional speech without any clear rationale.

Worse yet, much call and text blocking is occurring on the basis of the content of those messages.

Mention the word “free”? Your text isn’t getting through.

“Loan?” Yep, blocked.

And that’s not even to mention words like “pot” or “guns” or “booze.”

Then there’s the “Campaign Registry” a foreign-owned company that companies are forced to kneel to in order to get their messages sanctioned for delivery by the wireless carriers. Yet all this spam traffic seems to be getting through all of a sudden since it was set up.

In 2018 there was virtually no spam texts. And now there is a ton of it after TCR came along.

Its almost as if throughput for  legitimate businesses is being throttled to assure spam traffic to get through.

Hmmmm.

Regardless, we have a very serious problem with censorship in this nation. And it is happening right under our noses. And it is time for somebody to take a stand against it–an that is precisely what Responsible Enterprises Against Consumer Harassment (R.E.A.C.H.) intends to do.

Sometime this month R.E.A.C.H. will be filing a petition with the FCC to clarify and limit existing safehabors to confirm blocking LEGAL and CONSENTED calls and text messages (particularly those that meet the robust R.E.A.C.H. v.2.0 standards) CANNOT BE BLOCKED OR LABELED BY THE CARRIERS OR THEIR CRONIES.

Additionally the petition will ask the FCC to review the actions of TCR and the carriers in their 10DLC registration process.

We expect the outcome of this petition will chart a course for registration and call blocking regimes for decades to come.

To say this is a big deal is a bit of an understatemnt.

We call on all stakeholders to be ready to address the petition and be prepared to have your voices heard in a robust record. (I.e. if you have wrongfully had your calls/texts blocked or mislabeled now is the time to be heard by the FCC.)

I will let everyone know as soon as the petition is filed.

And, as always, all work on this effort is being provided by Troutman Amin, LLP free of charge. (You’re welcome.)

Just part of our commitment to help change the world and make it a better place.

If you’d like to support us join R.E.A.C.H. or come work for us at Troutman Amin, LLP— we are always hiring qualified attorneys, paralegals and staff.

Chat soon!